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From a genealogical standpoint, the 1850 federal census was a watershed event because it marked the first U.S. census to record the full name and a significant amount of demographic data on each person in a given household, whether family member or not (e.g., live-in servants). This volume marks Mrs. Motes's fourth book in a series devoted to the ethnic and migratory components of South Carolina's population in 1850. Earlier volumes dealt with (1) Free Blacks and Mulattos, (2) South Carolina's Irish, and (3) New England and Middle Atlantic migrants into South Carolina. Migration to South Carolina-1850 Census tallies 1850 foreign-born South Carolinians from the following countries: England, Scotland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland.

This book names over 3,700 foreign-born persons (other than Irish, who were treated in an earlier volume), including 1,900 Germans, 861 English, and 579 Scots. The author, who has a special interest in ante-bellum occupational patterns, notes that this group of immigrants included artists, engravers, engineers, professors of language, and other occupations not highly represented among the earlier groups studied. Each individual is identified by name, age, sex, occupation, country of birth, county of residence in South Carolina, and household enumeration number assigned by the census taker. Rounding out the volume are a table of South Carolina counties with the dates canvassed, a historical preface by the author, and indexes of names, occupations, and places.